Story and photo by Dustin Hart
contributing writer
For the first time in league history, an all-American team from Kaiserslautern Military Community District Soccer won its division in the competitive Deutscher Fussball-Bund (German Football Association).
The KMC under-15 girls’ team completed their 2018-2019 season with an 11-1 record, recording 33 points in the DFB’s C-Juniorinnen Landesliga Westpfalz. The second place team, 1.FFC Kaiserslautern, finished the season with 24 points. Making the achievement more astonishing is the fact the U15 team won the championship in only its second year playing in the DFB.
“It has truly been amazing to watch this group of girls come together as a unified team in a concise amount of time and play at an incredibly high level,” said Head Coach Marcel Braun. “They have worked extremely hard throughout the year, and their commitment to each other and a tireless work ethic resulted in tremendous results on the field.”
After dominating the competition for much of the season, the team claimed the league championship with a dramatic 2-1 victory over second place 1.FFC Kaiserslautern on May 8, and 3-0 win over FV Münchweiler e.V. on May 12.
“It’s an honor to play competitive soccer in Europe,” said Isabella Hernandez, who served as the team’s captain. “The KMC club was very welcoming when I first started, and I was very happy to join the club. Getting the experience of playing for a German coaching staff is something I would have never had in the U.S., and I have definitely grown as a player. We put in a lot of hard work that paid off this year and resulted in my team winning the championship for U.S. Youth Soccer and KMC,” she added.
Additional team members included Julia Marlin, Madyson Bazua, Madalynn Hopkins, Natasha Smith, Maggie Royle, Lucy Delaney, Jenna Roers, Gabriella Clark, Caroline Donmoyer and Stephanie Rojas.
KMC is the largest district in Southern Germany affiliated with the U.S. Youth Soccer Europe program. All teams, including adults, play in the DFB.
Additional information on KMC District Soccer can be found at https://prosocacademy.com/locations/kmc/ or on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/KMCDistrictSoccer.